Relief Society Organization Re-enactment

Joseph Smith reads from D&C 25 about Emma, an elect lady. 

On March 17, 1842 the Relief Society was first organized in the upstairs of  Joseph Smith's Red Brick Store.  I don't know when the mission started the re-enactments but they've been done for several years. This year the Barrows and the Davies were assigned to be in charge of organizing it.  There was a particular challenge this year.  The re-enactment reader's theater calls for a cast of 13 people.  The mission is down in numbers and it's been hard to cover the sites as it is, let alone take 13 people away, plus  others who were providing music and Sister Davies and myself.   The good news was that 16 new senior couples were arriving. The bad news was, they were arriving the day before the re-enactment.  They wouldn't have time to unpack and get groceries, let alone read their information site booklet,  before they could be put on sites. Usually couples have a few days of orientation before they are put on the sites.

Miracle of the storm

 Many plans were made to accommodate the challenge as best we could.  Then the Lord stepped in, producing a huge storm out west, so that the MTC told the missionaries to get on the road early.  Getting them here Thursday still made it challenging, but at least gave them a chance to go to the store, make their beds, receive a site dress, and some orientation before Saturday.  Amazing the difference one day can make.

The day before

We planned a dinner for the sisters, and invited the sisters from Nauvoo 1st and 3rd Ward (there is no 2nd ward), and the Community of Christ friends. Others also came who were friends or family of the missionaries.  We had 102 at the dinner. Gratefully the mission presidency had Hy-Vee groceries catered the dinner.  The men set up, served, and cleaned up. So the sisters  only had to show up, and really felt honored.  After dinner we had a short program.  I conducted.  Sister Whiting shared a poem she'd written for the occasion,  and Sister Munns shared some history of the Relief Society.

I don't have photos of the actual dinner.  I hope someone can share some pictures with me at some point. But here is what set up and take down looked like. Oh, and I met one of the new missionaries who told me she's been reading my blog!  That makes 4 people that I know of.  For some reason, my blog doesn't show how many are looking  but people tell me they've looked.  This is the first new friend, so I'm excited about that. 

Tables are finally arranged to our liking. 

Elder Christensen folds napkins so well. 

Sister Dare, our florist

So beautiful

And the all important clean up crew.

The Re-enactment

The day began at Sarah Kimball Granger's home. Her husband lived here in Commerce, before it was renamed Nauvoo. Hiram Kimball wasn't a member of the church until 1843, but his wife was and it was in her parlor, which is pictured below, that she and Margaret Cook conceived the idea of a women's service society for the temple workers. They asked Eliza R. Snow to write up a constitution for them. When presented to Joseph Smith he said it was the best he'd ever seen, but it isn't what they wanted.  The Lord had something else for them, and so on March 17, 1842 in the Red Brick Store the women were organized under the priesthood of God.  It started with 20 women and now numbers over 6 million. In the 19th century they gave relief to the needed, became educated in medicine and maternity care, started hospitals, fought for women's suffrage, and much more.  We continue to serve and give relief today. 

Sarah Kimball Granger, as portrayed by Sister Archibald

Sisters Flanders and Mendel provide music
for the guests as they arrive. 

Sister Davies, my co-chairman.  Flowers by Sister Dare. 

I couldn't get everyone in, but this is most of the cast .

Emma and Joseph Smith portrayed by Elder and Sister Corder.
They stood outside the store and greeted people.  A youth group came through and took their pictures with them.  They did a great job.  They are such a friendly couple, just as we are told the Smiths were.

When I came on my mission, I joked to my friends that I was looking forward to not organizing anything, but just doing what I was told to do.  Jokes on me.  This took a lot of organizing, but we got it done.  Everyone was very cooperative and helpful.  It was rewarding to see the ones who stepped out of their comfort zone and were magnified.  I appreciated the opportunity to share in the remembrance of this historic event.  

Thaw & Straw

 Thaw - First week without snow

Pussy Willows at FM

This week started out still cold, but not so cold that we couldn't go outside. So the grounds crew pulled out the new(ish) van, all outfitted with new tarps and rakes.  Thanks Elder Dare for giving us shelves to organize things and even a place to keep the gas cans outside the van,  on the trailer. 

Our first project on Monday morning was to clean up the Smith Family cemetery.  While we were there we asked the Community of Christ maintenance man if we could clean up around the Red Brick Store, where we would be meeting on Saturday for the Relief Society Re-enactment.  He welcomed the offer.  So our morning took on a sense of service that we sometimes don't feel on our own property. 

Cool shadows on the wall.

Snow geese on the thawing river

Straw - Monday afternoon

The church historians are coming to town, and FM has been instructed to take all of the straw out of the foundation of Edward Hunter's house by tomorrow, so that they can start planning for it's reconstruction.  No one knew why there were straw bales in the house foundation, which had been covered with a tarp the whole time I've been here, but they had to be removed.  Sister Christensen worried that there might be snakes or other creatures hiding in the bales - and for good reason.  So after break, we headed over to see if we could be of assistance.  

First the van got stuck in the mud.

Foundation filled with soggy bales of straw. 

Adam finds a critter.  Follow the stick. 

Louis pulls the possum out. 

Fun on the straw - it was not that fun. 

All cleaned out. 

Artifacts uncovered

 

Later that week

 One afternoon I saw a rainbow out our front porch.  Can you see it just behind the temple? So I called my photographer friend, Elder Cornwell and told him to about it.  Scroll down to see what he saw.

                       This was taken from the FM parking lot.  The white building is the temple. 

Another cold week - with snow

The 1st week of March wasn't much different from the last week of February.  It snowed Tuesday.  The highs were below freezing, though not in the single digits.  So we stayed in and did greenhouse work, planting seedlings and trimming coleus.  Later in the week we helped the conservation workers clean.  My crew went to Lyon drug, which was most fun. 
We will make it through this winter yet.  All the kids, except for Mckay and Andrew, will be here the 1st week of April.  Now that's something to look forward to.

Seedlings are sprouting. 

We planted them in compartments.

See up high on the back wall. The window automatically
opens when it gets too warm in the greenhouse.
  Sign of Spring.

Lyon Drug

Not everyone can touch the artifacts.  Only people in Conservation - and those who help them. So this was a responsibility that we took very seriously - no one wanted to be responsible for breaking anything. 

Whit gloves required. 

Possibly the inspiration for the baseball bat.

Cleaning the china dolls.
Grandpa Griffith had a dry goods store and with a millnery on the second floor.  This wall reminded me of his store. 

 Do you know what this is? A washing machine.

This is the painter, Jared.  Sister Howard painstakingly stripped this column down to the original paint, which was the faux wood painting. The top part is the original.  Jared is matching the bottom to look like the top.  Faux painting dates back to ancient times, but there was a revival in the 18th and 19th centuries.  There are examples of faux painting throughout Nauvoo.

6 month mark and Elder Cornwell's photos

This is what Elder Barrow does - every day. 

Today marked our 6 month mark on our mission.  1/3 done.  We've sent home a few couples this month and I love to hear their final words and testimonies.  We still have a lot to look forward to.

Here are the photos that our fellow missionary, Elder Cornwell took this week. Much better than my little phone camera.

Put your shoulder to the wheel

cleaning the blacksmith shop

The grounds crew.  I don't know where I was. 

Cleaning pots.  Sister Dare and Sister Grigsby. 

Helping Conservation FM

It was still too cold this week to work outside.  And the next shipment of plants didn't come, so we are caught up on planting. We did a lot of pot washing and greenhouse maintenance, watering, cleaning.  But we were available to help out in other areas.  I went to sewing on Tuesday, and helped Conservation with Spring cleaning on Wednesday and Thursday.
Conservation takes care of the artifacts on the sites, and has a store room of things we might need in our homes that we didn't bring, including pillows, blankets, and air mattresses for guests who visit. 

Sister Schmidt cleans upholstery through a screen to protect the fabric.

Cleaning the blacksmith shop was a dirty experience.  But we felt we'd accomplished something when we were done. 

When the blacksmithy was clean we stopped by Exodus point to play with the ice.  Still very cold here in Nauvoo. 

Our personal service project - getting the leaves out of the Cultural Hall stairwell. 

Mission Training on giving tours - by Sister Archibald

Sister Archibald, who is a professor of park management at BYU-I, and teaches classes on Interpretation, that's the tours that park rangers give, gave our training on Wednesday night.  She taught us to watch for the different types of visitors:

•  explorers, who want to learn a lot
•  facilitators, who are focused on sharing the experience with others
• professional/hobbyist, who know more about your topic than you do
• experience seekers, who just want to visit the site, look around, then move on
• spiritual rechargers - seeking a restorative experience

A visitor can be a combination of some of these.  I tend to be an explorer and spiritual recharger.   At museums I'm more of an experience seeker - let me see the stuff and I'll go home and read about it.  What kind of visitor are you usually? Tell me in the comment below what you think you are.  

If I'd known this a week before I'd have understood my last visitors better. They were definitely experience seekers - they just wanted a quick look/see and move on.  We get lots of facilitators - parents and grandparents who want their children to have a spiritual experience. 

Sister Archibald taught us a lot more. I'd love to take this class.  It's interesting how things work here.  She is an expert tour giver - literally - but she works with us in grounds.   Some site missionaries are scared about presenting things to visitors, but there they are.  Missions are often places where we are given the chance to explore our weaknesses and strengths.  I know being on grounds, doing physical labor for 5 - 6 hours is not my strength, but I did it in the fall and I'm sure, with the Lord's help,  I'll meet the challenge this summer.